Mendel and His Peas
by Zofie C. Field
Summary: In which Delphine consumes a much needed late-night cup of hot chocolate, rights a scientific inaccuracy, and joins the Clone Club earlier than planned


**Mendel And His Peas**

Cosima set her tea on a side-table lets out a sigh of content as she collapsed into a soft chair. One more minute with Allison My-head-is-screwed-on-too-tight Hendrix and she would have exploded. Escaping from the craft room of death was utterly essential. Thank gods they have Beth to form a no-nonsense barrier between them.

Cosima pulled her legs up underneath her and cracked open her worn copy of _Origin of Species_.

* * *

><p>After a solid two hours of trying to be zen, Delphine fled from her hotel room to the late-night coffee shop down the street. Perhaps hot chocolate could calm her nerves. She'd survived grad school interviews and she'd survived grad school itself, but she was not sure she'd survive this whole big kid job interview thing.<p>

She ordered the largest hot chocolate the little shop sold and settled her self at a table near the window. With renewed vigor, she opened her folder of application materials and began reviewing her resume for the millionth time. Five minutes and two scalding sips of cocoa later, she was leaning on her hand, staring into space again.

* * *

><p>"Darwin. That's hot. He's the dude with all the peas, right?"<p>

Cosima looked up incredulously at the hulking figure who had decided to invade her peace. She opened her mouth, but could not think of a smart retort that the specimen in front of her would actually be able to understand.

"Mendel, actually," floated in a light french lilt from behind Hulk's back. "The one with the peas, I mean."

"You're excused. Scoot," Cosima said with a dismissive wave of her hand towards Hulk, as she shifted, trying to see around the obstruction. With a dissatisfied grunt, he moved on.

The woman who had spoken was sitting by the window. She waved at Cosima, smiling. "Delphine. Lovely to meet you."

"Cosima. Thanks for saving me there," Cosima replied, grinning as well. The woman was still smiling, sitting twisted in her chair to face Cosima, so Cosima snatched up Darwin and the cup of tea and joined her.

"It was you who saved me, really," Delphine said as Cosima sat. "I have a job interview in the morning and I am terribly nervous. You are a welcome distraction."

"That explains the late-night hot chocolate," Cosima said, nodding towards the steaming cup. She leaned back in the chair, running her fingers through the braids along her scalp. "I'm visiting my sisters here. One day in the suburbs, and I'm about ready to cut all familial ties and move to Alaska."

Delphine chuckled quietly. "I see. Thus the late-night tea."

From there conversation spun off to Darwin, biology, graduate school, downfalls of research vs. academia vs. clinical practice, medical ethics of genetic modification, and the late-night merits of hot chocolate and herbal tea.

"And that was how I learned to avoid caffeinated beverages after sunset!" Delphine said, leaving Cosima heaving with laughter at the woman's story. She glanced down at her hand lying softly where it had fallen on top of Delphine's knuckles. As she pulled it back, letting her fingers trace the tendons for the faintest moment, she noticed the watch on Delphine's wrist. 12:30.

"Whoa, man, it's way past my bedtime. I have to be up early, so I probably ought to begin the motel search," she said, reluctantly beginning to gather her things.

"Motel?" Delphine thought for a moment. "I'm not sure I know it."

"You know, like a cheap hotel," Cosima shrugged. "Living on a grad school budget, you know. It's that or the floor of my sister's craft room," she continued with a shiver. "_No, thanks_."

"Well, I certainly understand the financial life of a graduate student. I have been there before." Delphine paused, suddenly uncertain, then plunged on. "If it's not too forward of me to offer, I have a second bed in my hotel room. You are welcome to it. It will just go to waste otherwise."

"Forward totally works for me," said Cosima, grinning. "That'd be awesome."

The two women slipped into the night, talking quietly as they made their way down the empty street towards the hotel.

* * *

><p>They had intended to set the alarm and go straight to bed, but one thing led to another, and before long Cosima was kneeling on her bed ranting about the current state of evolutionary developmental biology research in the United States. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and Delphine found herself laughing along with the bubbly woman, and chiming in about the work being done in Europe.<p>

At some point they ended up side by side in Delphine's bed (Cosima may or may not have leapt from one bed to the other in a fit of excitement) with Delphine's laptop spanning the small gap between their knees. They fell asleep sitting like that, scrolling through journal articles, still debating science as their voices drifted off.

* * *

><p>Cosima woke up with a strong tingling in her fingers, finding her wrist trapped under Delphine's hip. She shifted, attempting to release her arm.<p>

Delphine's eyes flickered open. She was met with a chipper "Morning!" and the toothy grin of the girl who had featured heavily in her dreams last night - something about Cosima interviewing talking peas for a job with Gregor Mendel. Sleepily, she returned Cosima's smile.

Interviews with Gregor Mendel? Suddenly, Delphine sat bolt upright in bed. The alarm clock blinked 8:43. "No," she breathed in despair, "I've missed it."

Swinging to sit at the edge of the bed, Delphine let her head collapse into her hands. She tried to control her rapid breathing, tried very hard not to panic.

Cosima shifted uncomfortably. "The interview was at 8? 8:15? Can you call them? Perhaps you're stuck in traffic."

"No," Delphine mumbled, shaking her head. "It's highly competitive. They would never grant another interview."

Cosima was unsure of what to say to comfort this woman she had only just met. She scooted across the bed to sit hip to hip with Delphine.

"Maybe it'll turn out to be for the best," Cosima offered. "Maybe in five years it'll turn out that this company is, like, torturing small children in the basement or something." Inwardly she cringed at her utter lack of tact, but Delphine laughed a bit and turned to her with a water smile.

"Yes, perhaps."

"You know, you could alway come to the great state of Minnesota," Cosima said, lightly bumping Delphine's shoulder. "I'm moving there next month. The University of Minnesota has a killer Evo Devo program. Their immunology department would be, like, crazy lucky to have you."

Delphine returned the shoulder nudge and playfully considered, "I don't know if Minnesota could handle both of us crazy scientists."

"Please. We'd be awesome. We could call ourselves Team Science Mega Force."

This made Delphine laugh, and Cosima liked that sound.

"And," Cosima continued carefully, "we could, maybe, have lunch sometime."

Delphine held her gaze, voice quiet. "Perhaps, Cosima. That would be nice."

They sat in silence for a long moment, each considering the change of direction they'd taken in the past eight hours. Finally, Cosima stood, straightening her rumpled clothes.

"Well, I better go, or my sister's gonna have a fit." Standing up stick straight, arms akimbo, she adopted a snooty air and continued, "Nine o'clock on the dot, Cosima. Not a minute later. And come through the back door. I don't need my neighbors asking where I got my hair braided."

Delphine chuckled at the imitation, rising to meet Cosima in a tight hug. She settled cross-legged on the bed as she watched as her new friend head towards the door.

"Goodbye, Cosima," she said.

"Bye, Delphine." Cosima waved and left the room, humming. As the door slipped shut behind her, Delphine heard Cosima shout over her shoulder, "See you in Minnesota. TEAM SCIENCE MEGA FORCE."

Delphine's face split into a grin, marveling at the girl's overwhelming charm. Her laptop was already open, fingers already flying along the keyboard.

_Search terms: University of Minnesota; careers; job listings; immunology_

* * *

><p>The end!<p> 


End file.
